52 Weeks of Yorkshire – Week 3

At first I intended this project to be exploring my home county of Yorkshire, visiting places I have never shot before. While I still fully intend to do that (I have a trip to Whitby for some seascapes in mind), I’ve found that a lot of the plans I have for this are more personal in nature. The last two weeks have featured images that I feel capture something about my life and my relation to the world around me, and I think that’s a far more interesting aim for a project. Hopefully by following along with this you can get a glimpse into my life and my personality, and begin to understand why I shoot. It’s not just a journey for you though. It’s a journey for me, exploring my thoughts and feelings about the world around me and trying to find my reason for pursuing photography.

Millennium Bridge

This is the Millennium Bridge in York, UK. It is a place I’ve returned to again and again over the past year, always attempting to capture something new. Whenever I just need to get out of the house, whether because I’m stressed, worried, or just wanting some fresh air, I come here. This might sound odd, but this structure is almost like a constant in my life. It’s an area I always enjoy photographing, even if I rarely return with an image I intend to keep and put on Flickr. To me, when I photograph near the bridge, it’s not really about creating a good image. It’s about being alone with nothing but my camera and my mind. In a society where I rarely get a chance to breathe and be myself, I find that important.

The shot itself was taken over a two minute exposure, which I think really brought out the ambient light filtering from the bridge through the haze. The river and towpath lead the viewer to the bridge, beautifully reflected in the River Ouse. In post I darkened the image, and slightly increased the saturation of the blue lights, to really make them stand out, giving this image a cool, moody glow.